Thursday, August 14, 2008

So the UPS man just surprised me with a box of nail polish from Sephora! I didn't even get a tracking number, they just mysteriously showed up! Hooray, another pleasant surprise!

Swatches first:

Brainiac. Sephora described this as "spiced pumpkin." Whenever I see the word "pumpkin" it's like an alarm goes off inside my brain that says BUY BUY BUY BUY BUY!!! Unfortunately, this doesn't look very pumpkiny to me. It's like a weird muted salmon-coral, or pinkish burnt orange. I still like it, but it's NOT PUMPKIN :(

Cab Fare. I love the color- a bright yellow with yellow-gold shimmer, like Orly Live Wire but not as bright. However... This polish was extremely thick and impossible to work with. See how thick it looks on my nails? That's two coats and it's uneven and lumpy. This was even, dare I say, stringy?

Call Your Mother. Oooh, I like this. Another muted purple. I'm happy that these colors are appearing more often. They're very unusual and I find that exciting!

Charge It! If you don't want to spend $30 on Chanel Gold Fiction, get this! It's not an exact match but the finish is the same. It's a bright, shiny, metallic, polished gold. Love this.

Domestic Goddess. Bright purple creme, woot!!

Don't Go There. Brighter than Call Your Mother, but I don't like it quite as much. It just doesn't do anything for me. Pretty, but meh.

Metro Chic. Another one of these weird colors! I love 'em! Quite similar to You Don't Know Jacques, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Never Enough Shoes. Not exactly what I was expecting. I had expected more obvious glitter, but this is actually really subtle. I can see red, gold and silver glitter, but it's super-tiny microglitter. I was hoping for something like Petites Black Star.

Run With It. WOO! This is wicked cool! I think they should have named it 'wet cement' because that's what it looks like. It's a muted light grey with the tiniest tinge of red, it looks like. It has a fine shimmer running through it that gives the appearance of concrete- all those little sparkly crushed stones. I really, really love this. A lot. I hope this isn't limited edition!

Truthfully, I wasn't impressed by the quality of these. The main problem I had is that every creme shade I bought has ribbons of unmixed pigment running through it. I normally don't have a problem with this, a little shaking is enough to take care of it most of the time. But, even after a moderate amount of shaking, the ribbons were still there, and worse, created pigmented streaks on the nail!

Formula-wise, about half were good and half were a horrible, thick, gooey, streaky mess.

The brushes are nice, a nicely shaped standard nail polish brush, no Pro-Wides here. I am not a fan of the bottles for three reasons: One, they look like they'll be insanely hard to open if a little bit of polish dries in the threads. Two, they look cheap. And three, they look more like something you'd find in an, um, adult store than a bottle of nail polish.

I'm happy with all the colors I ordered, even if they weren't exactly what I was expecting.

nit tii bad,..but if the app. is bad i think ill just by YDKJ..but i want the charge it (that is the gold right,,?) what was the app. like on that??<3and i agree with meli...you are so quick i love it! this came up whil i was doing a search for orly swatches and i thought it was an old one until i seen the YDKJ comment!! lol Danielle

Melli, hee hee, I love swatching! :) And, yes, I agree. I would have a hard time buying more after using these. *sigh*

Danielle, Charge It was easy, went on smoothly and dried really fast- love it! And maybe it's just a thing with yellows, it's sooo hard to find a yellow that's not thick and gross :(I have one or two of the Amour color effects, but I've never worn them! I'll have to find them and use them so I can give an opinion :)

Emelie, hmmm, that's a good question! I know that there are Sephora stores in France, but I'm not sure if they carry this line or not... I can email OPI and ask for you :)

Fauxfun, those bottles make me uncomfortable, lol XD I can swatch pretty quickly now because I don't use a topcoat or wait for the polish to dry... Just paint, run outside, click click click! ;-)

thanks!!! i would love a swatch or two of them ONLY WHEN U HAVE TIME (these are not in high demand! lol) but i read on one of your older posts on where to get stuff...(transdesign or sumthing) its amazing except i cant even find out how much it costs for shipping per lb until i give all the information but im not ready to order i jhust want prices!!! do u order from there enough to give me an apprx. guess??<3Danielle

Some of these look pretty, but overall I'm kind of unimpressed. I understand some of Sephora's clientèle may want pretty pinks, reds, and purples, but I wish there were more edgier colors. So how does Cab Fare compare to Solar Power by China Glaze. I already have Solar Power, but I really want Cab Fare. And thanks for the swatches!

These don't really do anything for me. The one thing I don't get is why they cost more than normal OPIs...because they're Sephora OPIs?? Not sure. Although some of the colours seem interesting (I wanted to buy a bottle of Metro Chic but they were all sold out) they're not colours I'd go crazy over. Nice swatches though, as usual!

oh thank you thank you thank you...i cannot wait till i get the $$$ to order... hey scrangie how do you like the nicoles...you dont talk much about them and they are (other thne the shorts coll...a couple SH.. and that revlonn gold one) the only other polishes i have right now!! it's up to you..change the world..the right thing..respect the world..one voice..blue lace..virtuos violet..razzledazzler..their all soo beautifull especially as collection starters!!my friends cant get enough of them i think ill have to start charging for the usage..seriously :-S... which ones do you love ?!?!

Claire, Solar Power is more muted and the shimmer seems more silvery. Cab Fare is bright like lemons and has golden yellow shimmer- cousins but not twins :) Solar Power's formula is waaaay better!

Thank you, Karman! I am very surprised they didn't do anything "exclusive"- you can find 99% of these colors anywhere, but they expect people to pay $9 for these cause they say "Sephora"??

Danielle, I like Nicoles, I just don't like the weird-shaped bottles, lol :) My favorite is Virtuous Violet, but I don't have very many... Most of the cool colors have been discontinued (Leaf Me Alone and Turquiose Joys!)But, the formula and color selection pretty good!

oh i love the bottles!! lol and i LOVE respect the world ...the best turqouise..and one voive is an amazing yellow :) i woul really appreciate some oppinion (s) on...nubar!get hot with nubar vs. new york summer!and nubar vs somethin else i have to go check ...shoot...Danielle

Danielle, it's just that I have these nail polish racks that I like to keep my polish on, and the Nicole bottles don't fit, I have to put them in sideways, lol.

I have a few Nubars and I LOVE them. I have a couple of the China Glaze In The Moods and one Nubar Moodies, so I can do a short comparison. I don't have any of the Nubar neons, but I do have almost all of the New York Summer ones. I'll do one big post with all of them :)

EEP! I am so glad you posted these~ I had a question, though. How does Metro Chic compare to RBL's Grunge? Or Call Your Mother?? I'm a huge sucker for RBL and I've been curious about Grunge. (After I saw your swatches, I *had* to order some, and I'm glad I did. I love them!!)

I don't have any taupe-y grey colors, and I'd prefer a taupe creme. Did you like one of those colors better than another by any chance??

Stella, while I have them all here in front of me, I might as well do a swatch comparison :) I'll snap some pics for you! Out of all the new taupey greys, I think You Don't Know Jacques is my favorite in color and application! :D

o0o i appreciat that!! it will be fun to read! and now i totally get why you dislike the bottles!! lol i cant wait to get enough polish to have a beautiful rack like yours..but then i cant keep them in the fridge! lol..how many of those racks that your hubby made you do you think it would take to out your WHOLE collection on? my friends are flabbergasted (is that how you spell that crazy word) about the "PART" of your OPI's lmaoso nubar is good then...this is good news :)<3Danielle

Danielle, hmmm.... 8? 10? lol I have too much polish :D Right now I have seven tabletop racks, a bunch of OPI displays and two wall racks and a big sterilite drawer unit overflowing with polish XD Not to mention all the polish on the kitchen table or stashed in random drawers, lol

Great stuff, Scrangie! A small request - can you think of any dupes of 'Run With It'? I love that shimmery, concretey dove grey, but I'm in Australia and order all of my polishes online. OPI costs AUD$20 in the stores over here; it's just not worth it to buy nail polish in bricks and mortar!

Also, I'm all over the Misa Poisoned Passion collection but none of my e-tailer usual suspects have it. Where did you get it, and please tell me they ship overseas!

You make my heart ache for polish loveliness and my wallet hurt from the lemmings, Ms Scrangie!

Asia12mb, you're right- it was a bit thick! It was one of the more chunky ones, but I added a little thinner to it today and it seems okay so far!

Rach, hmmm... I can't think of any exact dupes, but perhaps China Glaze Recycle with a few drops of white mixed in, and a little shimmery topcoat on top might be pretty close. Sorry I can't think of a better dupe =/ It's a pretty unique color!I think the collection was 'officially' released yesterday and I know that TransDesign.com has it (I think they ship overseas). The other etailers should have it soon and I know 8ty8 and Head2Toe ship overseas :) Thanks for the kind words!

Scrangie's lackluster review of OPI by Sephora is no big shock considering this new polish is a completely different product than original OPI. I'm an industry insider and I have it from the best of people that only the 3 letters in the name (O, P and I) are the same. It's a completely different formula and it's produced by a different manufacturer than the salon OPI. Sounds like the quality is less (not that it was ever that good anyway) but the price is more - and it sounds like it's no good to me.

Anonymous, thank you for that juicy little tidbit! It's definitely not anything like the OPI I'm used to, and now I see why! I don't think I'll be getting any more of these unless the color wows me. Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it!

I slapped Run With It! on my nail yesterday at the mall and really like it! Being anti-$9-polish, trusting your funny commentaries, and reading that juicy insider tip regarding the not-OPI formula... it all makes me want to resist and *hope* someone gets this cement color worked into their line. *sigh* A girl can dream, can't she?

Hailey, I feel a little bad because I was originally SO excited about these, and I am now very disappointed by the bad formula :( *sigh* Oh well, it could have been worse I suppose! :)

Fauxfun, the color is awesome, I hope some other line releases a better one! I thinned my Run With It with a WHOLE 3ml of Seche Restore yesterday and it seems to have improved the polish. But, you shouldn't have to thin a $9 polish!!

Thank you, Deborah! :) How is Soy Latte? I was wondering about those creamy colors. I bought one more, a silver, because the gold was pretty good. Hopefully I don't have any problems with the silver one! I just feel like RETURNING them all, and I never return things! *sigh*

I do Stickey, then a coat, then nail envy, then two more coats, then seche. I always feel like I have to have nail envy somewhere in the mix....or all my nails will instantly break. (Im nail envy brainwashed!)

Yeah, its a lot- but the seche dried it in no time and it lasted for a week! (just a little shrinkage at the tips)

I bought Cab Fare becuase i absolutely love the color. Unfortunately, the thickness of the polish drives me nuts. Do you think the consistency would be better if i added in a few drops of Seche - Restore?

I was so upset by IM Beauty that I actually googled to see if others had the same problems. Streaky, AND despite using an OPI top coat (no Sephora OPI) it stained my nails a really hideous nicotine yellow.